AboutJoseph Silver Expertise Ask any motion graphics, broadcast design, or After Effects questions.
Experience
Learn more about Joseph Silver and his work at Designomotion
Joseph Silver is the creative director of Designomotion, a motion graphics design studio located in New York City. His work has played in Times Square, the 2004 Olympics, and the 2006 World Cup, as well as being aired in commercials and show packages for ABC, CBS, MTV, and many other television networks. His studio has over ten years of experience creating customized broadcast design and animation for leaders in network television.
Education: Columbia University
Awards and Honors: Gold and Silver Broadcast Design Awards (Promax/BDA, Tribeca Film Festival)
Question What is the best resolution (for possible enlargement to a 35mm print) to render a clip in After Effects?
So far I've been rendering as MPEG2.
Answer hi jim - if you want to use the clip for a 35mm print, then i think your best option would be to use the 'Film (2K)' preset when you create your comp in After Effects. at 2048x1556, 24fps, i am pretty sure this will be sufficient for your print. however, please confirm these specs with the facility that will be printing the clip to film.
it is true that sometimes people create clips at a lower resolution, then do enlargements. i can't really say how much quality degradation there will be when you do this, but i would suspect that you could create your clip at say HD resolution and still get a nice enlargement. but again, please check with your facility first. i don't want you to be disappointed with the results. perhaps you can do a test of a short clip to see if the enlargement process is satisfactory to you.
in terms of compression, i would suspect that mpeg2 involves too much compression? the facility may have a certain compression that they need for their end of the printing process. for example, it might be that they need .tif sequences. ask them what they need.
please let me know if you have any other questions. thanks,
